Flixel, a free iPhone app, can turn your party images into cinemagraphs. First, it films a mini-movie of whatever you want to photograph, and you choose which parts of the image will show the full 'movie' and which will remain frozen. (WEBSITE SCREENSHOT)

Belkin's remote for your camera phone comes with its own stand. (Supplied)

Supplied

Une Bobine is a handy stand and charging cable for your smartphone. (Supplied)

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As winter's chill sets in, our hearts are thawed (ever so slightly) by the thought of the holiday festivities ahead.

There'll be family and friends to see — and, naturally, photograph and tag on Facebook.

There are plenty of great holiday memories to be made, just by pulling out your phone. Use these apps and add-ons, and you might conjure up something worthy of a Christmas card.

If you're throwing a holiday shindig, you could always rent a photo booth, but we assume you're working on an onion-dip-and-beer sort of budget. Pocketbooth, which has been "meticulously designed to emulate the experience of a 1950s-era Model 11 photo booth," will take rapid-fire shots of your friends, add filters for that antiqued look, and arrange the images into a "strip" that you can then share or print. You can customize a number of options, including the filters, the length between shutter fires, use of the front or rear camera, and the flash settings (so the first photo of every strip will still show that customary "dazzled by the flash" face.) It's available for iPhone/iPad, Android and Windows Phone for $2.99.

Unless you want to assign somebody to hold up your phone and "be" the photo booth all night, you're going to need a way to prop up your phone for hands-free photography. A cellphone tripod won't necessarily see a ton of day-to-day use — why not spend your cash on one that does double duty? Une Bobine is a sturdy, bendy charging cable that will flex and loop into any shape you like, making it perfect for standing your phone upright or looping around a pole or branch for shots from above. It's available in Android and iPhone (up to 4S) versions for $30 at photojojo.com.

Here's a set that's the best of both worlds: A remote for your phone camera that comes with its own stand. Belkin's LiveAction remote works up to 30 feet away and can be hidden in your pocket so it's not super obvious in all of your party snaps. Separate 'photo' and 'video' buttons make it easy to switch between the two modes. The two parts fold back together when you're done, and the stand's design is unobtrusive enough that you won't have to peel off your cool iPhone case to use it. Pick one up for $49.95 at Future Shop or futureshop.ca.

Bring your party images to life by making cinemagraphs — photos with one animated portion set into a still image. Flixel, a free iPhone app, makes the process easy. The app first films a mini-movie of whatever you want to photograph, and you choose which parts of the image will show the full 'movie' and which will remain frozen. Think snowflakes falling outside a window, a lone candle flickering on a table — the possibilities are endless, and the "do my eyes deceive me?" effect will definitely make those shots worth a second look. If you want to give Flixel a spin, it's available for free at the App Store.

Of course, it's possible you may have upgraded your photo gear beyond a smartphone. Those with more advanced photographic rigs can still harness their smartphone's convenience factor by turning it into a handy remote shutter. TriggerHappy, a project brought to life through Kickstarter funding, comes in the form of a one-metre cable that connects your Apple or Android device to your Canon or Nikon DSLR, as well as a free app that lets you control the shutter, as well as the flash (for long exposures) and other features. There's a range of cables available to suit your phone/camera combo; they're available at Amazon.com for $49.97.